Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

So there is no misunderstanding, I want to make it clear that I oppose the substantive bill, the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Bill 2015, because lowering the renewable energy target is a bad decision. It is not in the best interests of the environment and it is not in the public interest. We should be aiming for a much-increased renewable energy target. We should be doing everything we can in our power to put this country on a pathway to a much greater reliance on renewable energy. That is in the public interest and it is in the best interests of the community.

I will support amendment (4). On the face of it, burning forest waste is a good idea if it can be done in high-technology, modern furnaces to create power. That makes sense. But there is a problem. And my position is heavily informed by the experience in Tasmania where somewhere once had a bright idea that we would chip forest waste and sell those chips for cash and that would be a helpful supplement for cash flow for the forest industry. But of course, before we knew it, woodchips became the reason for forestry. Before we knew it, they were clear-felling vast swathes of some of Australia's most precious forests, chipping it and sending it overseas to make paper. So, in other words, I have no confidence in the regulatory environment. I have no confidence that a move to burning forest waste for energy production will not very quickly become the reason for forestry operations. So, on the face of it, burning forest waste makes sense. But when you live in a place like Tasmania where a succession of governments over many years have abused the use of forest waste and have turned it into the reason for cutting down some of our most precious forests—given my experience in my home state I will support this amendment and for the foreseeable future I do not think that burning forest waste for energy is something we can put our trust in.

See this speech in context